Mark's POV

I grinned as my eyes swelled. Jack's green hair was a mess on his head, his blue hoodie was ripped open across his stomach and had blood stains covering the left sleeve, and his jeans were torn open in several places.

Jack chuckled as he caught me staring at his ripped up clothes. He posed. "What? Having trouble taking in the sight?"

I laughed as I called across the hall, "Well, I'll be honest, I've seen worse."

Jack smiled brightly as he dashed across the hallway and dove into a hug. I felt my face heat up a bit, but I ignored it and hugged back. We stayed there for what felt like years, though in reality, it was only a minute or two.

Jack broke away when he saw prisoners walking toward us. "Shit! We're gonna miss dinner!" he yelled as he grabbed my hand and raced me through the hallways. He stopped once we made it to the cafeteria entrance and looked around. "Buffet?"

"Buffet!" I cheered as we charged toward the buffet table. I swiped a plate off of the table and scanned over the food. "Wait, they serve ramen noodles?"

Jack nodded. "They serve just about anything! Plus, Underworld food is just as good as human world food, if not, better!"

"Seriously? They probably use dark magic on it or something," I chuckled.

Jack stopped shoveling food onto his plate. "I've never seen them make the food. They actually might use dark magic." He paused for a moment before continuing, "Well, I've been eating it for the past few days and I feel alright. We'll be fine."

Jack and I sat down at one of the empty tables and began eating our food. He hadn't been joking, the food down here tasted incredible. The chefs either used some sort of dark magic, or the fact that I hadn't had a proper meal in about a week was to blame.

Probably the latter.

I shrugged away the thought and continued stuffing food into my mouth. I finished not long after and looked up to find that Jack had finished as well.

"Alright, question time," I decided.

"Shouldn't I be the one asking you–"

"Nope!" I interrupted him. "First question, you didn't seem all that surprised to see me. Do you mind telling me why that is?"

He chuckled, "Oh, what? Were you planning on making a grand entrance to rescue me and all that?"

I felt my cheeks heat up. "Umm, that's beside the point! How did you know I was coming?"

"Oh! I actually needed to talk to you about that! I completely forgot! Apparently, Thomas told Logan that you were here, and Logan told me. For once, he wasn't an annoying smart-ass! He actually gave me valid information!"

"Wait, Logan?" I asked.

"Oh, he's the guy on the other end of the intercom in my cell. He, uh, also told me some other news."

I looked at Jack expectantly. When he didn't add anything, I inquired, "What news?"

"He, uh, said that you and I have to break out of here before tomorrow night. More specifically, before that boy is executed at noon."

"Why? I mean, I planned to break out of here with you, but why before the execution–"

"According to Logan, after that boy is killed, you and I are next."

We sat in silence for a few minutes before I replied, "So speaking of that boy, he's the demon version of Percy and we need to save him so that the human version of Percy doesn't die."

Jack blinked at me before laying his head down on the table. "How the hell are we going to do this?"

I leaned back in my chair as I thought. "Thomas and Logan might help us."

Jack rested his head on his hand. "You think?"

"I'm not sure, but Thomas seemed like he wanted to help me. He's been so nice and open about everything that I'm not sure if he's even a demon," I chuckled.

"Have you asked him?"

"Yeah, he said that he wasn't allowed to tell me."

Jack sat up. "That's weird. I asked Logan and he told me right away that he was a demon."

I straightened up. "Do you think Thomas could be a human?"

Jack shrugged. "Not sure, but it kind of seems that way. How would he have gotten to the Underworld, though?"

"Same way the two of us did?" I suggested. "Actually, how did you get to the Underworld? No one ever told me."

"All I know is that the voice made some kind of deal with a demon named Anti. I don't know what he got in return, but I was sent here. What about you?"

I tensed up. "Anti brought me here and has been trying to help me find you. Well, kind of," I mumbled the last part to myself.

"Do you think he regrets the deal?" Jack asked. "Maybe he's trying to fix it by sending us back to the human world?"

"What was the deal, though?" I murmured.

Jack stood up. "Well, I guess it's up to us to find out! We'll discuss the breakout plan tomorrow at breakfast. Tonight, do as much as you can to find out where Percy is and try to find out more about Thomas being a human or demon. I'll bring it up with Logan as well. I'll also see what I can do about getting information on the deal Anti made."

"One of us should probably check in with Reagan, too. Last I heard, she was locked in a room by herself and everyone was split up," I explained.

Jack nodded, then laughed quietly, "Do you think anyone would believe us if we talked about all of this in a YouTube video?"

"I'm still not completely sure our friends are going to believe that we've been in the Underworld the past few days," I replied.

"Yeah," Jack mumbled. "Maybe Shane Dawson made a conspiracy video on all of us disappearing for the past week?"

I chuckled, "I've got a feeling there'll be more videos than just one, but I completely agree that Shane made one by this point."

I stood up, and Jack and I threw away our plates before beginning to walk back to our cells. Jack stopped in front of my cell with me and stated, "Percy's execution is at noon, so we have to have a plan put together and put into action before then. See ya at breakfast!" He smiled brightly before walking down the hallway, back to his cell.

I chuckled, "Yeah, night!" I walked into my cell, and as I did, the glass closed.

"Thomas?" I called.

There was a short pause before the intercom turned on. "Mark! You're back! I take it you found Jack?"

I smiled to myself. "Yeah, we talked for a while."

"I noticed. You were gone for over an hour! I'm surprised the two of you didn't get kicked out of the cafeteria!" I thought back. Had we been the only two in the cafeteria?

I shrugged it off. "Thomas, I need to ask you some questions. I really need you to answer them honestly–"

"So that you and Jack can plan your escape?"

I paused. "How did–"

"You two have been all over the news today. The king's second in command stated that the king is going to execute both of you as soon as he finishes with Percy. Go ahead and ask your questions."

"First, where is Percy?"

"You're going to break Percy out as well?" Thomas questioned.

"Well, yeah–"

"As far as I know, he's in one of the cells at the king's castle. It isn't far from here, but it isn't connected to the prison."

"So Jack and I need to get a ride to the king's castle, break in, save Percy, and get out completely undetected?"

"You also have to break out of here with enough time to do all of that before noon," Thomas added.

"I bet all of that would be doable if you and Logan helped," I suggested as subtly as I could.

"Yeah, it probably would be," Thomas muttered.

"Thomas, you're human, right?"

There was a short pause before he replied, "Yes."

"What are you doing in the Underworld?" I inquired.

"The human world has kind of gone to crap since you guys went off the grid, and no one knew where any of you guys were, so I decided I'd try to help and bring you guys back. The Underworld seemed like a reasonable place to search."

"So you'll help us get out?" I asked, ignoring the hundreds of other questions circling my mind.

"That's why I came in the first place."

A/N

I FELT SO MUCH JOY WRITING DIALOGUE FOR JACK

FFFFFFFF

Also, ATTACK ON TITAN IS SATURDAYYYYYY

Anyways, BUH-BYE BROTATOES!